this is called, lament for a market place in babylon, by abdul karin al karid and it's a reference to a suicide bombing. this one and the next one are both translated by salim yusef. on this grave stone are angels and people weeping. what are people waiting for, their ship? here it comes, borne by the deluge. in a market place now frequented by money changers with beards and baggy trousers, who restores the limbs and who throws open the gates for hollow-eyed gods coming in from babylon with red chests and white furious hair? i wonder who? on the day of march 1st in the 5th year after the second millennium, a massacre took place in babylon. it's my pleasure it introduce the next poet, george evans. . >> first, i would like to read a poem by my dear friend and wife, daisy samora, who was to be here today but is in nicaragua, keeping in mind what michael said about jorge and casablanca, i will read it in her language or my spanish first, then in translation. it's a poem directly addressed to poets but certainly to activists as well. (speaking spanish) no man's land. we are a mine field o

home again i'm coming home to go roaming no more ♪ [applause] >> thank you, misa and beach blanket babylon welcome the mayor of our great community and city, the honorable edwin m. lee. [applause] mayor lee: good afternoon, everybody. i wanted to spend a few moments in joining mayor willie brown and mayor frank jordan with our chief of police, our city attorney, dennis herrera, so many friends here, and members of our board of supervisors, to just register my appreciation for the san francisco general hospital foundation and the great work you are doing in joining our hospitals mission. for all of you who are here today to make that effort real with your donations and support, thank you very much from the bottom of my heart, that you believe that the san francisco general hospital is truly in need the heart of the city and county of san francisco. thank you very much for being here today. [applause] i mean that in so many ways. the hospital is available to everybody. every community of this great city. it has a trauma center. how many other centers -- cities have its own trauma center? a t

our december season of the month is david from babylon high school, one of our el teachers. he has traveled the world and settle at balboa because it is basically the united nations, a kaleidoscope of ethnicities and cultures. his goal has always been duplicitous riggers and give them a shot at the dance. he used to sit at the excelsior mcdonald's in the morning and a genius to preschool. now, they are in first. the class is. david, congratulations. [applause] >> this one is for my dad in heaven and my mom and my brothers. i want to say that when i got my first teaching job for the peace corps in morocco, i never thought i would come back to the united states, and i took a lot of teaching jobs and climbed all over the world, and they sometimes intervene in the very same way. 14 years ago, i was allowed to interview in high school that nobody wanted to go to in san francisco, and a net even inspired fear in some community members, and that was balboa. i want to tell you that it was the best place for me at the time, and it is still the best place. i think it has become one of

teachers -- we have a variety of other goodies which include a bike rental, muir woods, beach blanket babylon, tickets to the opera -- we had so many gifts. a special thank-you to the world community benefit district and pier 39. they solicited for us and got a lot of wonderful things. without further ado, the awards are named after somebody who has really care about public education, somebody who has stepped up to the plate, who has made public education a priority and makes it easy for me to work for him. i want to introduce our mayor of san francisco, mayor gavin newsom. [applause] >> thank you, hydra. the guests get bigger and bigger every year, and more exciting. remember, last year we did this as kind of a pick and choose. some folks were left very happy. some were left wanting. that was not lost on us. we tried to have a stronger base line of gifts this year, which is appropriate because you deserve them. we are very grateful. that is the spirit that brings us together -- gratitude, the spirit that defines excellence. the work that you do continues l beyond your tenure and stewardship.